Death of a Clown
by mollydegraaf
Summary: Takes place after the Soldano Cartel has been convicted. A tragic accident leaves one of our agents broken. But the Soldano s have just been the beginning. A agent from the BKA Germany joines forces with the Graceland team to end a globaly operating trafficking ring. Just a short scribble. This won t become a very long story. Rated T for strong language (not too bad though)
1. Chapter 1

„Lucia! No, no! Lucia!"

Johnny was bent over the body of the beautiful Latina girl. A ricochet had blown into the back of her skull. Though the tiny creek of blood between the long brown waves didn´t seem like a large injury the bullet had just found the right spot. Lucia had died immediately.

It was a dreadful sight, the always funny and delightful clown of graceland turned into a tragic pieta over the pretty daughter of a mobster. He held her close to his chest and between the sobbs they could make out the word amor a couple of times. Mike looked at Briggs who was as helpless as him. „I get Charly."

After what felt like an eternity Charly had soothed Johnny into finally letting go of Lucia´s corpse. A red spot on his white shirt where he had held her head, with an empty gaze and hanging shoulders, a different person stumbled out of the door then the Johnny Tuturro who had entered it about five hours before. The paramedics guiding him into the ambulance. He had a grazing shot that needed treatment. Paige and Jakes had just arrived Carlito´s villa to catch a last glimpse of Johnny. It was Paige who summed it up most precisly: „Oh shit."

They were in the middle of celebrating their successful operation against the Solano cartel when the front door opened and Johnny walked into the party. His eyes swollen and an exhausted look on his face he walked through the suddenly quiet group, went straight for the bottles of Tequila and was about to head to his room. „Hey Johnny," Mike yelled „come on sit with us. You did great today!" and as he said it he already cursed his stupidity.

„Hey Mikey" never had anyone of them hear Johnny speaking a sarcastic and bitter tongue „ why don´t you mock me and my inability for this job even more. Great job you did there, first big undercover operation and your girlfriend gets killed."

Johnny takes some giant gulpes from the bottle and turns to go to his room. Before he slams the door shut behind him he says „You all just leave me be."

Now (6 months later)

„So everyone" Mike addresses the whole group of agents sitting in the living room „I have received a note from the Bureau that graceland will be joined by a fellow agent from europe, who will be helping us with our tinkerbell case. It seems that Solano has been the top of the iceberg of a globaly operating trafficking ring. Europe has been trying to shut this down for a while. Anyway, since we are forced to take in another roomie for some weeks, I am very happy to tell you that I know the agent who will be staying with us. She will be arriving from Berlin in two hours."

„Wrong. She is already here."

A tall, athletic woman with a head full of wild dark blonde curls stands on the deck. A giant black barsoi laying down at her feet. She wears tight blue jeans and a black tank top, biker boots and a tattoo is spiraling up her left arm from the elbow up to the shoulder and further to her neck. Mike turns around with a broad smile „Go say hi to your old friend, Balu."

Lena is a friendly nature. She introduces herself to everyone individually. Is charming and polite. Her german accent is not strong but detectable and after a little bit of chitchat Briggs clears his throat „So Lena what´s you´re story."

That is when the front door bursts open and Johnny comes in. He is inebriated and has a five-o´clock-shadow on his face. Johnny acknowledges the existence of his roommates with a nod and Lena´s with a questionably raised eyebrow. „Johnny you are more than an hour late."

„Go fuck yourself, Mike"

Tuturro gets up from his seat just as he sat down and heads for his room. The looks on their faces are half embarrassed half concerned. Lena breaks the silence „Wow, what a way to make an entrance."

„Yeah, my apologies for that one. He has been in a dark place for quite a while now." Briggs tells her. „Gotcha."

Then you hear Johnny come down the stairs, he carries his surf board. „You guys all surf?" Nods all around. „Hey you," Lena yells after Johnny „wait up I´m coming too."

„But what about the briefing?" Mike says holding the files in his hands.

„Oh honey, I am not here for another two hours? Remember?"


	2. Chapter 2

Charly is dicing tomatoes and the delicious scent of fresh basil fills the kitchen. While Lena is mixing Mojitos Paige joins her fellow female agents. „So? Ladies Night?"

„For sure, here try that one," Lena hands Paige a glas of Mojito „so, just that I am on track here. You and Briggs," Charly nods „and you and Mike?"

„Yep, Damn, Lena that´s one great Mojito."

„Yeah my dad owns a bar. So ain´t that weird? Honestly if I was Jakes or Tuturro I´d kill myself. All the loving. Urgh."

„Oh trust me, they don´t care about the loving." Charly answers „Jakes is reconciling with the mother of his son and Johnny …" she stops in midsentence.

„Johnny doesn´t care about anything anymore" Paige finishes for her „Can you imagine that he used to be a really funny guy. Always cracking one joke after the other until half a year ago."

„Do you know why he changed?" Lena asks.

„He hasn´t told you? For two weeks now you two have been out on the water every day, hence you have seen Johnny more than all of us combined for the last two months and you don´t know?"

„Well we´re surfing. But really ladies let´s not talk about gloomy men. Another Mojito, Paige?"

„Sure. So Lena you never spilled how you and Mike know each other in the first place."

„Oh I was at the top of my class and got to spend four months in Quantico. International team building. And our road runner on the career path was assigned with showing us around, of course."

„Something going on between you two?" Paige tries to sound casual but fails miserably.

„Ah," Lena laughs loud and heartily „you wanted to ask me that since I called him honey on the first day."

And so the Ladies chat on. When Briggs comes home he finds the three of them sleeping on the couch with empty plates and glases surrounding them.

* * *

„Damn, Johnny, I will kill you. You idiot." Mike rushes into the living room. You can tell he is insane with anger. In a few quick steps he is by the couch pulls Johnny up by his hoodie and quickly punches him a couple of times before Jakes and Briggs can sepeate them. „You almost got her killed. What the hell is wrong with you!"

Mike is furious and it takes both, Briggs and Jakes to keep him away from Johnny, who is bleeding heavily from a gash on his left eyebrow. „You know I am so sick of you loosing control of your operation. It´s been six months now. Man up for god´s sake."

„Mike, hey, calm down. I know you´re terrified right now because Paige is hurt. But it is not Johnny´s fault. None of us could have forseen that."

„Lena, Mike has a point though. Ever since that girl got shot half a year ago Johnny has not been on his A-game and frankly this is becoming a liability." Briggs cuts in.

„Exactly," Mike continues „the daughter of Solano himself I might add. Seriously that thing was doomed anyway right from the beginning. What did you think would happen Johnny, huh? Both of you living…"

Lena jumps to her feet quickly like a cat and Balu who had been laying lazily on the carpet is close at her side and slightly growling. She looks really intimidating as she is really close to Mike and speaks in a calm but dangerous tone. „I am stopping you right here. You all have to back off right now. Because this is not about the operation going down, this is about you all being angry at him for mourning the wrong girl."

Now Jakes steps into the conversation „The wrong girl? Lena, honestly, she was Solanos daughter, her brother was a sociopathic killer, who almost shot Johnny over some antiques being french and not mexican."

Though Charly stands quiet on the sidelines Lena senses that she is with Briggs, Mike and Jakes on that one. The only one between Johnny and the rest of the house is her now. And it hits very close to home because couple of months back Lena has been in a similar position. She has to fight the tears while she is standing her ground between them. But she won´t back off, this is not just for Johnny this is also for herself.

„Don´t you think he knows that. Maybe you should come down from your high horse and count your blessings that you fall for the right people. Do you have any idea how painful it is to fall in love with somebody on the wrong side? The constant feeling of betrayal to them, to yourself, to your team?" she pauses for a second to catch her breath when Mike wants to cut in.

„No, I am not done yet. You all listen up here. Johnny has been through hell and back. The woman he loved died in front of him, because of him and his job, he can´t even take time to mourn because he wasn´t even supposed to fall for her in the first place. Seriously, Briggs, Jakes, with what you have been through I thought you guys would be more empathetic. From what I have heard since I have been here is that Johnny used to keep up the spirit in this place. And now he is trying to hold on as best as he can. Instead of helping him you people are mad with him for not being the funny kid anymore. Maybe you all should man up!"

Silence fills Graceland. Charly looks ashamed to the floor. She knows Lena is right, and so do the others. Their helplessness has turned to frustration and then into anger. It had been so painful watching Johnny the last few months that they had forgotten that he was hurting more then anybody else over this. And it had gotten the better of them. „Okay now maybe you give us some space here, I need to stich up that gash."


	3. Chapter 3

Lena stands behind the couch and is stiching up Johnny´s eyebrow. It felt good saying all this out loud for once. And it was a little easier saying it for someone else than for herself. She is cleaning of the rest of the dried blood from Johnny´s face. „Okay you´re all done now."

She walks around the couch and sits down beside him. Both of them stare at the ceiling for a bit. They are used to not talking much to each other so the silence between them does not feel strange. „Thank you, Lena. I couldn´t have dealt with this."

„No worries." - „Who was he?"

„Danilo Kovacic. He was middle managment smuggling illegal weapons from Croatia to Germany. Mainly the north and northeast."

„How did he die?"

„We busted a deal that only him and upper management knew about. I had found intel on that. What I didn´t know was that they had another leak that they were looking for. They thought Danilo was it. He was gutted alive."

Lena can not hold back the tears anymore. Johnny can see them rolling down, dripping into her curls. „Oh c´mon now girl, don´t do this to me."

He wraps his arms around her and already holds her as she starts sobbing uncontrollably. At the same time he buries his face in her curls because he is crying himself. They both lean on another until the outburst of sorrow and pain ceases. For the first time since Lucia had been shot Johnny feels that he might be okay eventually, but knows that there is no way back to the person he was before. He whispers into Lena´s shoulder „We will be alright."

She lookes up and wipes the tears from Johnny´s and then from her own face. A brave halfsmile on her pretty face. „Yes, Tuturro. We will be."

The next morning Charly wakes up to the smell of pancakes. She is poking Briggs into the side. „Hey Paul, wake up. You smell that?"

Briggs slowly opens one eye and sniffels. „Pancakes á la Tuturro? - No, can´t be."

Charly is already in her dressing gown and opens the door. When she enters the kitchen she sees Jakes leaning on the doorframe and a stack of pancakes on the counter. A freshly shaved Johnny is preparing two plates with fruit and marple sirup. One by one the kitchen fills up. „Johnny, are you…"

„Shush, Charly," Jakes puts his fingers across his lips, „don´t ruin it."

That´s when Johnny looks up. He grabs the two plates. „What? Have you never seen a man making breakfast? Fruitsalad is in the fridge and these are for you. Breakfast is on the beach today."

Paige, who´s arm is still in a sling, investigates the stack of flapjacks. „No octopus there?"

„Maybe tomorrow, guapa." And Johnny smiles over his shoulder while he is walking out to join Lena and Balu on the beach.


End file.
